Great Western Railway Reviews 

Diabolical. Every time I have booked a train over the last 6 months, which is a lot, it's either cancelled, or very late. Diabolical. Shouldn't even exist as a public service. Worthless.

Had an absolute nightmare of a journey. Spoke to Sharon and Kay in customer service and they sorted issues within just a few minutes. Thank you so much for your help..

At last maybe some redress for the mess at botley road.to put you in the picture botley road tunnel is a part of Oxford rail station gateway to London and the west via the railway.the idea was some 100 million pounds of modernising infrastructure works redesigning Oxford station and vicinity.double over budget and years of delays still not finished.passengers fuming.residents fuming.shops fuming.buses can't get through.passengers have to walk long distances.broken promise after broken promise.area is a unfinished building site.now a local MP has referred the whole debacle to the national audit office whatever that is.

Absolute joke. If I could have given it zero I would have. Decided to drive to Bath from Cardiff for a day out with our daughter who is home from university. Train delayed , then cancelled. Trying to get the £70 back is like splitting the atom. Difficult uninterested staff who are so completely fed up and disengaged with what must be the most unrewarding job on earth. Just something else to add to the list of complete failures of the UK. Absolutely ridiculous.

Pre booked specific seats in coach H. However no coach H existed on the train and were told to sit anywhere we could find. So any pre booked seats were useless as it was a free for all. People were split up and some even had to stand for the 2 hr trip to Cardiff. After the train left we were told the 10 carriage train had been reduced to 5 carriages. No explanation. Nowhere near good enough.

It’s the small things that count.
Most times they can’t even provide a cup of tea:
1) train cancelled in the first place
2) it’s Penzance and the hot water has to heat up
3) the water heater is broken.
Will be called Western Railway when the government takeover makes it worse because it’s no longer Great.

Had a great experience with catering worker Peter on the 3:15 from Worcester Shrub Hill. Very funny guy and generous with the snacks. Probably the most enjoyable train experience I can remember! Give that man a raise!!

First time I've taken a train in about 8 years and the connecting train got cancelled. Staff gave me instructions with no idea of the wait waste of my time

Only because there wasn’t an option for 0

Purchased 1st Class tickets, but error in booking meant return was booked for tomorrow. I showed my tickets and my railcard explaining that I had CPTSD and AuDHD and asked the conductor to apply a ‘reasonable adjustment’ using discretion. He refused stating that it was policy to charge me full applicable fare for another ticket. Complained to GWR and they said that the conductor was right. So, they can run trains without catering when they want, run late consistently, apply their rules rigidly, then rely on technical details when it favours them. What an absolute shambles of an application of their own rules.

4:03 Trip from Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington. Peter the Catering worker, probably the best experience i have ever had on a train! Would highly recommend, he deserved all the raises in the world!

4:03 train from cheltenham to paddington had excellent service from a catering worker called Peter in first class and was a very pleasant experience.

Maidenhead Station is not fit for purpose. There are not enough gates and there is significant overcrowding, especially when exiting the station. It needs significant investment.

In Reading they made us wait in the train for 20 minutes before cancelling the train all together. As I was getting off the train to run to catch the next one, the guard even had the cheek to telling me off because I was shaking my head in disbelief! Unbelievably rude customer service!

Have never managed to get a seat on on of their trains into London, even off peak. Reservation system is flawed at best. Passengers completely ignore the reservation system and train managers rarely enforce it. Half a carriage today taken up with reserved seats but most of them single occupancy where one person appeared to have reserved two seats.

Loading system at Paddington is horrendous. So far everytime I've travelled from there the platform of departure has been announced five mins before. This has resulted in a large scale chaotic rush to board. Often no regard for children from other passengers who will happily barge them out the way in the crush.

I'm no huge fan of Southern but, if like us, both networks serve your area then Waterloo is much better managed (although the trains are like cattle carts).

Awful customer service. Massive issues with claiming a refund. A few more months and I will hopefully leave this stupid country and no more shit train service anymore - dirty, unreliable, unsafe, expensive

Terrible customer service - Avoid

Got the 1102 today from Torquay to Westbury. Apparently the earlier train was cancelled. Got train to newton abbot then boarded the Piccadilly train at 1145. BIG MISTAKE!!!. Absolutely packed out 10 carriages. Had to stand all the way to Westbury. Over the tannoy the guard said there was seating for 800 and that 1200 were on the train. Surely GWR can do better than this. Absolutely disgusting and unfair. I've health problems and standing for 2 hours plus isn't done me no favours. I know this review will fall on deaf ears even so had to write it. Any of you out there considering going with GWR. Should think first. Once they got your money that's it.
Disgusting this age!!!2026. Very poor
service!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Double the people because one train cancelled. They don't care less

Refuse to refund by changing all terms of refund unilaterally without reasons!!!
I asked for a refund according to the rule of the ticket “within 28 days of validity”. Then they refused to refund claiming I didn’t request the refund within that frame (when I did…). I disagreed with their decision and then the refused again saying the request was to be made “at least the day before traveling”!!! All of a sudden, convenient change of rules! When they are not lying to their customers on their own refund rules, it’s a strike. When not a strike, the state of the toilets on board. Gosh GWR if you hate both your customers and your job and basic level of consistency with your own rules, maybe you should sell your company to more serious than you.
Update 26/08: it gets better. I clicked on the link they provide for “if you believe we made a mistake … you can appeal the claim here”: I filed all as requested and they replied they can’t proceed since they already had a file on this claim (yeah GWR you do: that is why you created an appeal link…!!!!). What a joke…

We are travelling to Carmarthen on
17.18 train from paddington.
We feel compelled to highlight the wonderful service and care that we observed from your professional caring colleagues.
A young lady from Columbia became separated
from her friends, she was unaware she had missed her stop and was upset and confused due to a language barrier,however your colleague Richard was kind caring patient and spent quality time writing clear instructions so that she was able to safely and quickly travel back in the correct direction.
He also made sure she was safe by escorting her over to his colleagues on the next train to ensure her safety on her ongoing journey.
How kind and thoughtful GWR
The team on our journey were exceptional.
Many Thanks Julie and Jo 👏👏👏

AWFUL service. Waited 5 hours in London Padddington for a train to Bath. Boarded 2 trains and last minute they were cancelled. Boarded 3rd train and waited 50 minutes for a driver to show up. After 5 minutes they told us it was cancelled and we had 5 minutes to run to another platform to catch the next train.

RUINED MY DAY